


How To Take Care of Your Human

by Kiraly



Category: A Redtail's Dream (Webcomic)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkward Kissing, Cuddling, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 12:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6657733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a couple of weird dreams. Even once they're awake, the day just keeps getting stranger for Hannu and Ville.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How To Take Care of Your Human

**Author's Note:**

> Hannu has conflicted feelings about his dog-turned-roommate. Meanwhile, Ville is still struggling to fit in as a human - and it turns out Hannu neglected an important part of his education. The Kuikka twins are happy to fill in the details.
> 
> Rated Teen for references to sex and some profanity (you can probably guess what my favorite swear word is).

Ville had fur again, and rested his weight on all four paws. They weren’t _his_ paws though; too big, with claws on the end. A bear, then. He was strong, powerful. That was good. He could help Hannu better that way. Take care of him.

They climbed a tree, and the claws made it easy. Not so easy for Hannu to hold on, but his slight weight around Ville’s neck was a comfort. It was nice to be close enough to feel Hannu’s heartbeat. But then the ravens came. Hannu fell, and Ville flung his claws out to catch him—but he couldn’t catch Hannu, because his bear claws were gone. He was just a little hare, too weak to help anyone. Hannu plunged toward the earth, and Ville tried to follow but something pulled him away.

“Don’t leave me!”

Ville woke with the words echoing in his head, not sure if he’d dreamed them or shouted them. He was breathing hard: not panting to cool down, because the cold sweat coating him in place of fur took care of that. His cheeks were wet too, and his throat ached from trying to whine. He wasn’t a bear or a hare, and he couldn’t let his sadness out like a dog should, either. He was human, stuck with human means of dealing with bad dreams.

“Ville…?” a sleepy query came from the other side of the room. Practically speaking, that was only a step away; there was barely enough space for two beds in here. But the gap separating him from Hannu felt much wider.

“I’m...hggh...it’s okay, go back t-to—” he couldn’t even get the sentence out around the choking sobs. _So much for taking care of Hannu. I can’t even keep from waking him up in the middle of the night!_

Hannu heaved a sigh. “Bad dreams again?”

“Uh-huh.” This was the third night in a row they’d woken up like this. It was also the third night since they’d started sleeping in separate beds. Hannu said they had to, if they didn’t want people to get suspicious. Roommates had different sleeping arrangements than people who lived alone with their dog, apparently. Their friends would notice and ask questions they couldn’t answer. And Hannu was usually right about human things, so Ville agreed to try.

It had taken forever for him to fall asleep the first night, close enough to still hear Hannu’s breathing but too far away to smell him. His old nose could have done it, but that, like the privilege of sharing Hannu’s bed, was gone. The new mattress was too firm, not comfortably sagged like the other one. But Ville eventually slept, and that’s when the first nightmare showed up.

He’d told himself, after the first two nights, that if he had a bad dream again he’d be strong. He wouldn’t ask again. But now, racked with sobs and shaking with the memory of the dream, he gave in. “Hannu...can I…?”

Another sigh, and a weighty pause. Then, “Fine. But this is the last time.”

Relief washed over Ville, and he flung the twisted blankets off. One step and he was there; the sagging mattress welcomed him like an old friend. And his old friend, of course, welcomed him like an unwanted pest.

“Hey, don’t hog all the blankets, Ville! And stay on your side of the bed this time, I’m not going to cuddle with you.”

Cuddling was only okay if you were a dog, apparently. Ville missed being a dog.

Eventually they arranged themselves more or less comfortably, back to back on the narrow mattress. Ville’s knees stuck off the edge when he tucked his feet up, and Hannu’s elbow dug into his spine if he shifted too much, but he already felt more relaxed. “Thanks,” he whispered, smiling into the pillow.

“Go to sleep,” Hannu grumbled back. Ville couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like Hannu was smiling too.

 

* * *

 

Hannu dreamed, and he knew it was a dream because Ville was a dog again. “Hey, boy! Did you miss me?” He managed to fend Ville off long enough to get into the house, but once he was there he slumped to the floor and let the dog get a few enthusiastic licks in. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. Down, Ville!” Ville whined, still wagging his tail even as Hannu pushed him away. Hannu scratched his ears. “I know you’re glad to see me, but no more kisses. You’re a human now, you can’t just go around slobbering on people.”

“But humans kiss too, don’t they?” Ville asked. He _was_ human all of a sudden, still sprawled in Hannu’s lap. Hannu yelped and leaned away, but the door at his back blocked any chance of retreat. Ville sat up straighter so their faces were level. His cheeks were flushed, making his eyes seem even more blue, and his tousled hair looked just as soft as his fur had been. “You’re supposed to teach me all about being human, aren’t you? Show me how humans kiss.”

Hannu swallowed hard. “Ville, I...it’s not…” His tongue tripped over his excuses. _You’re my dog. You’re my best friend. You don’t even know what it means to kiss someone._ But this was a dream; none of that mattered here, did it? So instead of listing all the reasons why they couldn’t, shouldn’t kiss, Hannu gave in and let it happen. _It’s just a dream, anyway,_ he thought, as Ville’s mouth pressed against his, _what harm will it do?_

He sighed, relaxed, was starting to enjoy it when he remembered: _A dream is what made Ville human in the first place. Who says this is harmless?_

Hannu broke the kiss and tried to jerk away, but their limbs tangled together. “Oh, no. Ville, no, we can’t, this is—”

Ville frowned. “Hannu, what’s wrong? Hannu? Hannu?”

“Huuaaaaugh!!” A crash brought Hannu fully awake. He was in bed, and Ville—human Ville—was on the floor in a tangle of blankets. “What…?”

Ville blinked and rubbed his head. “Owww! Hannu, why did you do that?”

“I’m sorry!” He must have shoved Ville out of bed when he was half-awake. He’d tried to push the dream away, and his limbs reacted. And speaking of reactions…

“Augh!”

Ville peered over the edge of the bed. “What, what is it? Did you have a nightmare too? You were moaning, and I said your name, only then you—”

Hannu adjusted the blankets hurriedly. “It’s nothing, I was just having a...weird dream. Are you okay?”

Ville hauled himself up and flopped down next to Hannu. “Apart from getting pushed out of bed by someone I love, I think I’m fine. Do you want to try to go back to sleep? It’s still early—”

Hannu shook his head. “No. No no no, I’m done sleeping for now.” Like he could even _think_ about sleeping, after a dream like that. “I’m just going to get up.”

“Oh! Okay then. What do you want for breakfast? I think I have the whole porridge thing figured out from watching you, and I’m getting really good at coffee...” Ville’s face had that hopeful expression, the one Hannu tried not to think of as ‘puppy eyes’ anymore. For some reason Ville was fascinated with cooking and housework, and kept begging Hannu to let him try new things.

“Look, make whatever you want. I need to get some air.” Hannu pushed past Ville and snatched up a coat, not bothering to change out of his pajamas.

Ville trailed after him. “A walk sounds nice! Wait for me, I’ll come with you!”

“NO!” Hannu pulled his boots on and turned halfway around. “Give me some space, okay Ville? Just...don’t follow me. I’ll be back for breakfast.” He looked away, too late to avoid seeing the hurt in Ville’s eyes.

“Oh. Okay. I’ll...just start on breakfast, then,” Ville said.

Hannu slammed the door on his way out. It did nothing to relieve his feelings.

The crisp air cleared Hannu’s head, and eventually he calmed down enough to think about the dream without blood rushing to places it didn’t belong. _What a mess. I have no business having dreams like that, not about Ville! He’s my dog, for crying out loud! Except he’s not a dog anymore, and he still wants to act like one._ He couldn’t get Ville to understand about personal space, or keeping physical affection to a minimum. Couldn’t get it through his head that people would see how he acted, see the two of them living together, and come to exactly the wrong conclusion.

_Except you don’t want it to be wrong, do you?_ A traitorous part of him whispered.

Hannu shook his head and shoved his hands into his pockets. _Of course not! We can’t—he can barely work a can opener, he’s not ready for...all that. And I don’t even know if he’s...well, what kind of person he’d be interested in. It probably hasn’t occurred to him, either. He has bigger things to worry about, like sleeping through the night in his own bed._

Hannu sighed and started back for the house. It was hard enough, suddenly having a best friend who could talk and didn’t shed on the carpet. Best not to complicate things. He could keep these feelings to himself, push them down so no one else would ever know. How hard could it be?

By the time he closed the front door behind him, he’d managed to convince himself that it would be easy. That illusion shattered as soon as he saw Ville, still in his pajamas and his hair a tousled mess, with a giant mug of coffee and a bowl of something that was _probably_ porridge.

“You’re back! Come have breakfast, I think it turned out okay this time.”

_Aww, hell._

 

* * *

 

“AUGH! Stupid oven, I swear I set the timer right!” A clatter of baking sheets and muffled swearing followed Hannu’s shout.

Ville looked up from his mug with concern. “Uh...should we go see what’s wrong?”

They might not have been identical, but just then Jonna and Joona wore twin grins. “Nah, we’re on our break. He probably just overcooked the buns again. I can’t _imagine_ why that keeps happening to poor Hannu!” Jonna said.

“I know, it’s too bad,” Joona said, “He gets so upset about it, too.”

Ville sighed. “Poor Hannu. Maybe I should go...wait…” He still wasn’t good at picking up on the twins’ brand of humor, but...they sure were smiling a lot. “You two didn’t _do_ anything to the buns. Did you?”

Jonna and Joona exchanged a conspiratorial glance. “Well…”

They didn’t get a chance to finish, because Hannu crashed out of the kitchen. “You JERKS! You turned up the heat on the oven, didn’t you? Look at this, my buns are burned!”

The twins burst out laughing. “Ahaha, Hannu you should see the look on your face!”

Ville _could_ see the look on Hannu’s face, and he didn’t think it was funny. “Uh, guys, I don’t know if—”

“Sure, laugh it up!” Hannu growled. “But _you_ can explain it to your dad, because that was _not_ my fault!”

Joona stopped laughing long enough to catch his breath. “Aww, don’t be mad at us Hannu, they aren’t _that_ burned. You like them like that anyway! Come sit and take a break with us.”

“I can get you some coffee!” Ville chimed in. Hannu liked coffee. Maybe it would make him feel better.

For some reason, the suggestion just made Hannu scowl harder. “No way! I’m not staying here with people who keep playing jokes on me. I’m going for a walk.” He grabbed his coat and headed for the door, grumbling.

Ville started to stand up to follow him, but Jonna grabbed his arm. “Let him go, Ville, he’ll calm down eventually.”

Ville sat back. “Are you sure? He seemed really upset.”

“Hannu’s too uptight,” Joona said. “He needs to loosen up a little.”

“Yeah,” Jonna agreed. She leaned her elbow on the table and gave her brother a significant look. “Someone needs to take care of him.”

Ville frowned. “But I _do_ take care of him! Or at least I try. I made breakfast this morning, and he said the coffee was actually good this time!”

Jonna hid a smile behind her hand. “Not _that_ kind of care, Ville.”

“More like… _this_ kind,” Joona said. He stood and made an abrupt motion with his hips. Jonna laughed.

Ville stared at them. _Is this another one of their jokes? Am I supposed to know what that means?_

Jonna noticed his confusion. “We're saying he needs to get laid,” she said, as though that explained everything.

“Oh. Uhh…”

_Think fast. What would a human do in this situation? What would Hannu do?_

“Yeah, uh, Hannu sure needs to do that. Yep.”

_Nailed it._

Or not. “Ville...you _do_ know what that means, right?” Joona asked. They were both staring at him now, which was usually a bad sign.

“I...uh…no,” he admitted. When their stares went from curious to disbelieving, he added, “I was very sheltered!” That was what Hannu told him to say if someone made a reference he should have understood. Usually it got them to explain things without asking too many questions.

But not this time. “You really have _no idea?_ Wait, do you know _anything_ about sex?”

“Umm…”

The twins gaped at him for a moment longer, then turned away to hold a private conversation.

“...can't believe no one’s ever told him…”

“...what kind of parents would…”

“Do you think Hannu knows? Maybe it would be better coming from him…”

“Are you kidding? Hannu would never do it, he gets surly if I even _mention_ …”

“You’re right. I guess it’s up to us, then.” Jonna turned and gave Ville an appraising look. “Who knows, maybe this will work out for both of them.”

Ville clutched his coffee mug. “What will work out? What are you talking about?”

Both twins faced him now, elbows on the table and chins on hands. “Ville,” Joona said, “We need to have a little talk.”

 

Half an hour later, Ville downed the last dregs of his stone-cold coffee and shook his head in amazement. “That’s so...I had no idea...people really do all that? When they love each other?”

The twins shared a weary glance. “Yes. Not everyone does _all_ of it, of course, but...there are lots of options. We only scratched the surface,” Jonna said.

“And it’s not precisely _required_ that it be with someone you love,” Joona added, “but…”

“It’s best if it’s with someone you know well,” Jonna finished. “Less complicated. And you have a better idea of what your partner wants.” She pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I still can’t believe you didn’t know _anything._ What kind of crazy place did you come from, not to know about—”

“We didn’t really...talk about it,” Ville said. Which was perfectly true; most dogs didn’t go in for talking. “Thank you for telling me, though. Now I can take care of—I mean, I’ll know what to do for—it’s good to know,” he finished.

Joona nudged Jonna, and both of them grinned. “Sure, no problem. Let us know if you have any more questions, we’d be happy to help.”

“Help him with _what,_ Joona? Are you two filling Ville’s head with your wicked ways?” Hannu stood frowning in the doorway.

“Yes, we’re corrupting sweet innocent Ville,” Jonna replied. “He’s going to start walking around glaring at everyone and only eat buns that have been scorched by the fires of hell.”

Hannu rolled his eyes. “Ha, ha. Very funny. Come on, Ville, our shift is over. And your dad,” he added, nodding at the twins, “is wondering why so many of the buns are burned today. So...have fun with that!” He turned and left.

“Thanks again,” Ville whispered as he pulled on his coat. “Sorry Hannu is so grumpy today.”

Jonna and Joona smirked. “Oh, don’t worry,” Joona said, “I’m sure you’ll find a way to cheer him up.”

 

Ville stayed quiet quiet on the walk home. Every now and then he'd sneak a glance at Hannu, wondering if the twins were right. Did humans really do that? Did _Hannu_ do that? If that was how humans showed affection, he'd been going about it all wrong. _I wonder if...Hannu would want to do any of those things...with me._ Ville knew Hannu _liked_ him, of course, no matter how much he tried to act rude and distant around everyone else. And there was no question that _he_ loved Hannu. He had lots of friends—good friends, friends like the twins who gave good advice—but none of them meant as much to him Hannu did. And the activities Jonna and Joona had described...well, some of them sounded a little weird, but Ville thought he might like to try them anyway. _But not with just anyone._ He glanced over again and caught Hannu looking back at him.

“You’re awfully quiet, Ville. What’s wrong, cat got your tongue?”

“What? No!” Ville shook his head; for some reason his face felt warmer than usual. “I wouldn’t let a cat near my face, they always try to scratch me!”

Hannu laughed. “It’s just an expression, Ville, no one’s going to put a cat in your face.”

“Oh.” Yet another embarrassing reminder of how little he knew. At least it had made Hannu smile. _Maybe I can find more ways to do that._ It seemed like a good time to try out one of the things the twins had mentioned.

Ville matched his pace with Hannu’s and allowed his steps to carry him closer. His hand brushed against Hannu’s; Hannu moved his hand out of reach and kept walking. Ville wasn’t giving up so easily, though. The next time their arms swung past each other, his aim was better.

Hannu stopped in his tracks. “What are you _doing?”_

Ville looked down at their joined hands. It seemed fairly obvious to him. “Uh...holding your hand?”

Hannu jerked his hand away. “Well, don’t! That’s weird, Ville! Why would you do that?” His face was red, like he’d been out in the wind for too long. But there was no wind today.

_Weird? But Joona and Jonna said people do it all the time!_ “I...uh...I don’t know!” _What did I do wrong?_

Hannu stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Hmph. Don’t do it again, okay? It’s...people will talk.”

They were quiet for the rest of the walk home. Ville kept turning Hannu’s response over in his head. _I guess...he didn’t like that? I can’t see why. But they did say not everyone likes the same things, so...maybe I should try something else._

Hannu broke the silence in the midst of shedding coats and boots by the door. “So what do you want for dinner? Or did you stuff yourself on buns at work again?”

“No, I didn’t stuff myself, I’m still hungry!” Ville protested. Four buns didn’t count as stuffing himself, surely. “Can we have sausage?”

Hannu shook his head, but he set a pan on the stove and rummaged in the fridge. “You’re supposed to be on a diet, you know. We can’t have sausage every...Ville. What are you—”

The tone of his voice implied that _whatever_ Ville was doing should stop, but Ville kept his hands on Hannu’s shoulders just in case he was wrong. “You looked tense, and I heard...somewhere...that backrubs are good for relaxing.”

“I don’t _need_ to relax, I need to cook dinner! If you want to help, wash the breakfast dishes and set the table.”

Ville did as he was told, trying to hold back the impulse to whimper. _I can’t seem to get this right! Maybe I’ll never be any good at being human._

He drooped over his plate at the dinner table, but the sausages revived him. _Maybe I was being too subtle. They said Hannu might need a lot of hints. Well, they said ‘some people’ might need them, and I think they were talking about Hannu. So...I should try one more time._

Even though most of the twins’ advice had been completely unfamiliar, there was one piece that stuck in Ville’s mind. Sure, the way they described it was a _little_ different, but it was close enough to what dogs did that he thought he could pull it off. _And Hannu let me do it when I was a dog, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t like it now. I’m probably even better at it, now that I’m human!_ With that thought to cheer him up, Ville finished his food and waited for the right moment.

 

* * *

 

_I’m glad today is almost over._ Hannu put the last plate away and heaved a sigh. Nothing had been quite right all day. First there’d been that weird dream, and then the twins had to further ruin his mood with their stupid pranks. On top of it all, Ville was acting...odd. Too quiet, and touching Hannu in ways that made it all-too-easy to remember that dream. Something was off.

Well, he wasn’t going to push Ville to talk about it. Better to pretend everything was normal. “So, Ville, was there anything you wanted to do tonight?” They were working on Ville’s reading, and sometimes Hannu read passages of the Kalevala out loud while Ville tried to teach himself to knit. Something normal like that could make up for the otherwise crummy day.

Ville shifted from one foot to the other. “Umm...yes, there was something I wanted to try.” He swallowed hard, eyes darting from Hannu’s face to the ground and back again. Almost like he was...nervous.

_Nervous? Ville?_

“Okay...what is it?” Hannu asked.

Ville took a deep breath. Then he grabbed Hannu by the shoulders, stuck his tongue out, and mashed their faces together.

_WHAT THE HELL?!?_

It was nothing like the dream kiss. Hell, at first Hannu didn’t even realize it was supposed to _be_ a kiss. It was more like getting attacked by a tongue-monster that didn’t care if it landed on his mouth or his nose or his chin. Once Ville managed to _find_ Hannu’s mouth, painfully knocking noses on the way, the over-enthusiastic tongue pushed its way in—

Hannu shoved Ville away. “Augh! What the hell?!? What is wrong with you?!”

Ville turned crimson. “Owowow, nooo, I messed up again!” He covered his face with his hands and blundered out of the kitchen. Hannu stared after his retreating back.

_What is going on? Why did Ville try to kiss me? How does he even know about kissing? Or backrubs?_ Those hadn’t been part of their “how to be human” lessons. Hannu wiped saliva off his chin with a grimace. _Maybe they should have been. Ugh, so much tongue!_ The weirdest part was...well, other than the tongue, it _hadn’t_ been weird. He was wide awake, and he still wanted to kiss Ville. And even though it had been awful, part of him wanted to try it again.

But first, he and Ville needed to talk. _Ugh. This is going to be worse than the actual kissing._

Ville wasn’t hard to find. His habits hadn’t changed much from when he was a dog, and when dog-Ville was upset, he’d curled up under Hannu’s blankets and refused to come out. Human-Ville was doing the same thing now.

“You _do_ have your own bed to cry in now, you know,” Hannu said. He perched on the mattress and gave the blanket-covered lump a tentative pat. “Besides, now that you’ve gotten your gross spit all over my face, I’d prefer if you didn’t get it all over my sheets too. Come out of there and talk to me.”

The blankets shifted, and Ville’s tear-streaked face emerged. “I’m s-sorry, I ruined everything and now I’m ruining your bed and I’m the _worst_ human ever!” A fresh wave of tears started.

“You’re not the _worst_ human,” Hannu said. Then, for the sake of honesty, he added, “but you might be the worst at kissing. What made you do that?”

Ville sniffled. “I just wanted to t-take care of you. Jonna and Joona told me how, but I messed it up.”

Hannu narrowed his eyes. _I am going to kill those two slowly and painfully._ “What _exactly_ did they tell you?”

 

* * *

 

“...and so I thought I should try kissing you, because at least I knew how to kiss when I was a dog. I guess...dog kisses aren’t very much like human kisses though, are they?” Ville had allowed Hannu to coax him out of most of the blankets, but he still kept one wrapped around his shoulders.

Hannu shuddered. “They _really_ aren’t. And look, forget what Jonna and Joona told you. You don’t _have_ to do any of that—the hand-holding, the kissing, the, uh, things without clothes—if you don’t want to. And if you _do_ want to do it, you don’t— _we_ don’t have to do it all at once. We can go slow.”

Warmth stirred in Ville’s chest at ‘ _we’_. “Really? You...you’d let me try again? I thought...maybe you wouldn’t want me to kiss you ever again, since I messed up so badly.”

Hannu sighed. “Ville, I…” he took a deep breath, “I do want to kiss you. But for both of our sakes, we probably shouldn’t try anything beyond kissing just yet.” He rubbed his forehead. “Look, this has been a long, weird day. I’m going to make some cocoa. Why don’t you get ready for bed and think of something relaxing you want to do until it’s time for sleep?”

Ville nodded and hunched under the blanket. _All I wanted to do was take care of Hannu. He does so much for me, and I just seem to mess things up and make him uncomfortable._ But at least now...well, now Hannu _knew_ what Ville wanted. And it seemed like Hannu might want the same thing.

Ville let the blanket fall from his shoulders and got up to put his pajamas on. He crossed the narrow space between the beds—and stopped, struck by an idea. _Something relaxing to do before we sleep? That would work._

 

* * *

 

Hannu walked back into the bedroom with his eyes down, careful not to spill any of the cocoa. “So did you think of what you want to do, or…” his voice trailed off when he saw what Ville was doing. “Umm…”

Ville stepped away from the beds and smiled. “What do you think? This way we can be comfortable _and_ have enough space. So I won’t end up on the floor again.” Ville had pushed his bed and Hannu’s together in the middle of the room, leaving space on either side to get around. Now he layered blankets and pillows in a haphazard pile.

Hannu stared. “Ville...didn’t you hear what I said about taking things slow?”

Ville took one of the mugs away and slurped a mouthful. “I did. But Hannu...we were already sleeping in the same bed. And you said I shouldn’t do things if I don’t want to, right?”

“Yeeees,” Hannu admitted, “But—”

“Well, I don’t _want_ to sleep all by myself. And I don’t think you do either, not really.”

Hannu sighed. He was too tired for this. Too tired to argue, too tired to convince himself that there was even a reason to argue. So he drank some hot chocolate and sat down on Ville’s blanket pile. “Okay. Fine.”

Ville set aside his empty mug and joined Hannu on the bed, ignoring the now-larger space in favor of sitting close enough to touch. “And I thought of what else I want to do.”

_Oh no. Please, don’t let this be another brilliant idea from Jonna and Joona._ “Oh?”

“Well, I was wondering…” Something in Ville’s expression suggested he was about to beg, but for once it didn’t make Hannu picture him as a dog. “I was hoping you might show me the right way to kiss. Since I obviously have a lot to learn.”

_Oh._ “Ville, I don’t know...are you sure you really want to do that right now?”

Ville deflated. “Oh. Right, I’m sure you probably want to wait. I was pretty bad, after all. Maybe you can just explain what I should do better? And that way next time I can do it the way you like?”

_Explain? Hell. This is hell, and apparently I have no intention of leaving._ Hannu swigged the last of his cocoa and lowered the mug to the floor. “No, you’re right, let’s just do it. Only...go easy with the tongue, okay? Just try to do what I’m doing.”

_I can’t believe I’m doing this._

Hands first: fingers in Ville’s hair, trailing down to his face to cup his chin. Ville’s pulse beat faster under his fingers. Hannu brought his face close, held back long enough to whisper one last reminder—”gentle, Ville,”—and kissed him.

It wasn’t quite like the dream kiss. Better than the other kiss, though that wasn’t hard to do. Warm, soft lips beneath his, parting just enough to share his breath. Wet, but not slobbery. It tasted of chocolate and Ville’s tears.

Hannu eased out of the kiss as gently as he could—Ville didn’t need any more reasons to doubt himself right now. And it hadn’t been a bad kiss, all things considered. It was something to build on.

“So that’s...that,” he said.

Ville pressed fingers to his lips, blushing to the roots of his hair. “Oh. OH. So _that’s_ how...wow.” He grinned. “That was so much better! Thank you!” He threw his arms around Hannu and hugged him.

“Ahh! Ville…” Hannu opened his mouth to protest—Ville _knew_ his stance on cuddling—but it seemed a little absurd to complain about that now. _We did just kiss. And...it seems like we might be doing more of it in the future. If we’re going to hell, might as well go all the way._

Hannu relaxed into Ville’s embrace and brought his own arms around. He would never admit it, but he actually kind of liked the cuddling. Sometimes.

 

Ville felt Hannu soften and smiled. _Maybe I can take care of him after all._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! This started as a fluffy fic about sleeping in the same bed...and then it took a turn in a weird direction. Hopefully it doesn't come across as too scatterbrained, haha.
> 
> I like to think that Hannu and Ville have to fumble their way through a lot of awkward situations before they end up with a relationship that functions, and this looks at how that plays out on the physical side. It can't be easy to go from being a dog to being a human, just like it probably isn't easy for Hannu to suddenly have a human being around who he actually likes. Basically I'll never be over the "I think you're attractive but you used to be my dog!" conundrum. And...yeah, Ville has NO idea how kissing works.


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